, May 3, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- “You
are a privileged partner and the light and soul of society,” said the
Vatican’s Cardinal Renato Martino, speaking on the role of lay people
in the Church during this week’s gathering of the Kolping movement in
Vienna, Austria.

Cardinal
Martino, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace, addressed 39 delegates of the Kolping general council yesterday,
referring to the “social heritage of the Church as an orientation for
the action of Christians in the world.”

He also pointed
out the “urgent need to evangelize society according to the
requirements of the Church’s social teaching and heritage.”

As evidence of
this, Cardinal Martino developed the essential element which is the
compendium of the Social Heritage of the Church, elaborated under his
overseeing.

“The lay are the
privileged partner of the Compendium,” he said, “they are directly
present, where the organized secular and social life is; in the realm
of the economy, politics, work, and media.”

“They have to
deal directly with secular reality, they are therefore the bearers of
the practical social heritage of the Church,” he added.

The Cardinal
later expressed his wishes that the Compendium would bring maturity to
those in positions of responsibility, and enable them to be witnesses
in society.

Likewise, he
listed a number of challenges which Christians face in society. “It is
up to Christian lay to protect the value of the family, and to
reinforce the relation between ethics and economy. We have the
increasing feeling that economy alone, without ethics is not enough.”

Cardinal Martino
conceded that if “Good willing persons take up responsibility
positions, in politics, the economy and culture, we would succeed in
making this world a better place.”

The Kolping is a
Catholic international social organization, which uses education and
activities to promote the development of its members in the fields of
daily life.